The challenge of freedom to create our own day
Candice Preston
Teacher | Speaker | Academic Coach | Financial Literacy Educator | Author
I always wondered if students would prefer online learning to being in a classroom and I was surprised by the push back from my students as they began learning online for the first time. They missed school!? They missed being in a classroom and they missed being taught face-to-face.
Covid-19 and the lockdown forced us as teachers and students to experiment with a whole new way of learning. As a teacher I was excited by the prospect of learning new ways to educate my students in our modern world and to teach them how to use technology in new ways. My students were not as open as I thought. I am aware that for the most part they missed their friends and a classroom environment but they missed the structure, certainty and familiarity of a classroom.
Lockdown may have taken away some freedoms, but it gave us a whole new kind of freedom. We were given the freedom to create our day as we pleased. For some, they were excited by being able to wake up at a later time and work when they felt like it whereas others were daunted by the challenge and missed the formal structure of their previous life. I was blown away by the emotions and insights lockdown brought. As a society we complain about certain things and wish for longer weekends and now given all of our wishes we were complaining again. Now just about different things.
It does make me laugh but it really gave me space to think. What environment do we thrive in best? What environment should we create for our students? Should they have so much structure all the time or should we give them opportunities like this so that they can develop self-discipline and the ability to get comfortable with the unknown? I am excited by the changes that may be presented from all of this and eager to help develop more environments for my students to thrive. I do not have the answers but I keep asking the questions and exploring what is possible in our new world.
Education is more valuable than ever before and we need to harness its power to propel our lives forward in profound ways that uplift ourselves and all those around us.
I just have to hope we can change our thinking alongside our new world and in doing so create a better world…